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THE 



HOME OF SHAKSPERE 



Jllttstrate^ anJr Btstvibti, 



BY F. W. FAIRHOLT, F. S. A. 



AUTHOR OF "costume IN ENGLAND," ETC. 



THIRTY-THREE ENGRAVINGS. 




New-York: 

WILLIAMS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

NASSAU-STREET. 



MDCCCSLVIII. 



^vIVVA/J 



THE 



HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



All that is known with any degree of certainty concerning 
Shakspere is — that he was born at Stratford-upon-Avon — married 
and had children there — went to London, where he commenced 
actor, and wrote poems and plays — returned to Stratford, made his 
will, died, and was buried. Such is the concise biography of our 
\ greatest poet, as given by Steevens ; and although volumes have 
been written, more or less conjectural, on his life and times, they 
scarcely add a single fact to the meagre list of ordinary events he 
has enumerated. Slight, however, as these notices are, they invest 
the humble town of Stratford-upon-Avon with an interest which it 
would not otherwise possess. It was peculiarly the home of Shaks- 
pere : here he was born ; here he passed his early youth ; here he 
courted and won Anne Hathaway ; here he sought that retirement 
which the avocations of his London career would occasionally allow 
him to indulge in ; and here, when in riper age he had won honours 
and fortune in the great capital, he chose to return, and pass the 
latter days of a life where he had first seen the light : at Stratford 
he died and was buried. " From the birthplace of Shakspere," says 
Washington Irving, " a few paces brought me to his grave." 

All that connects itself with the personal history of " the world's 
poet" at Stratford is thus almost as closely condensed as are the 

I., 



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I 6 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

\ few words quoted above, which form his biography. A day at Strat- 
l ford affords ample time to visit all these places ; they lie so close, 
I that a few minutes' walk only separates them. In these days of 
^ change, when the birthplace of the Poet is scarcely safe, and Strat- 
\ ford is threatened with the spoliation of what little remains to it, it 
^ must be a work of interest to record and picture the few relics con- 
l nected with the Bard of Avon, the more particularly as alterations 
I are continually taking place there ; which, if they do not destroy, 
? do at least change the aspect of much that is interesting to all lovers 
\ of the poet, and " their name is legion." We will therefore con- 
^ duct the reader over Stratford and its neighborhood, minutely des- 
I cribing all that at present exists, and enumeratmg what has passed 
i away, commencing our journey at 

s 

I SHAKSPERE'S BIRTHPLACE. 



\ The house in Henley Street, as it at present exists, is but a frag- \ 

5 ment of the original building as purchased by John Shakspere, the ? 

I Poet's father, in 1574, ten years exactly after the birth of his son ^ 

^ William, the entry of whose baptism is dated in the parish register, \ 

^ April 26, 1564. John Shakspere had purchased in 1555 a copyhold I 

\ house in Henley Street, but this Avas not the house now shown as ; 

I the Poet's birthplace ; he had also another copyhold residence in \ 

\ Greenhill Street, and some property at Ingon, a mile and a quarter s 

^ from Stratford, on the road to Warwick. From these circumstances ^ 

^ a modern doubt has been cast on the truthfulness of the tradition S 

I which assigns the house in Henley Street to be the Poet's birthplace. \ 

i Mr. Knight says : " William Shakspere, then, might have been born \ 

\ at either of his father's copyhold houses in Greenhill Street or in $ 

i Henley Street ; he might have been born at Ingon, or his father J 

z might have occupied one of the two freehold houses in Henley I 




,4 



? THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 9 ^ 

Street at the time of the birth of his eldest son. Tradition says I 

that William Shakspere was born in one of these houses ; tradition ^ 

points out the very room in which he was born. Let us not disturb | 

the belief.''^ A wise conclusion ! Antiquarian credulity has given $ 

place to an extreme degree of scepticism ; and from believing too ^ 

I much, we are now too much given to believe too little; add to j 



this the anxiety which many evince to write about Shakspere, al- 
though little else but conjecture in its vaguest form be the result ; 
and the value of the modern conjecture as opposed to the ancient 
tradition may very readily be estimated. Let Stratford ever sacred- 
ly preserve the venerable structure with which she is entrusted ; 
pilgrims from all climes have felt a glow of enthusiasm beneath the 
humble roof in Henley Street, Let no rude pen destroy such heart- 
homage, or seek to deprive us of the little we possess connected 
with our immortal countryman ! 

When John Shakspere purchased this house from Edmund Hall 
for forty pounds, it was described in the legal documents as two 
messuages, two gardens, and two orchards, with their appurtenances. 
It passed at his death to his son William, and from him to his sister 
Joan Hart, who was residing there in 1639, and probably until her f 
death in 1646. Throughout the Poet's life the house is thus inti- | 
mately connected with him. Its original features may be seen in I 
our first view, which was taken in 1769. It was a large building, ^ 
the timbers of substantial oak, the walls filled in with plaster. The > 
dormer windows and gable, the deep porch, the projecting parlour, ^ 
and bay window, all contribute to render it exceedingly picturesque. ^ 
The division of the house into two tenements is here very visible. ^ 
The changes it has undergone since this view was taken, and which > 
has reduced the original building to a mere fragment, will be best ^ 
understood by a glance at our next two views. In 1792, when Ire- I 
land visited the house, it exhibited the appearance given in the | 



< 10 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

I upper portion of our third plate. The dormer windows and gable 
I had been removed ; the bay window beneath the gable had given 
I place to an ordinary flat lattice-window of four lights ; the porch in 
\ front of that portion of the building in which Shakspere was born 
5 was removed, and a butcher's shop-front constructed. At this time 
^ there lived here a descendant of Joan Hart, sister to the Poet, who 
I pursued the humble occupation of a butcher. The other half of the 
$ house was at this time converted into an inn, and ultimately sunk 
5 into a low public-house. It had been known as the Maidenhead 

> Inn in 1642 ; and when, in 1806, the house was disposed of to Mr. ^ 

^ Thomas Court, who became "mine host" thereof, he combined that | 

^ name with the one it then held of the Swan. About 1820, excited | 

I by a desire for " improvement," he destroyed the original appear- I 

s ance of this portion of the building by constructing a new red-brick ^ 

^ front, exactly of the approved fashion in which rows of houses are I 

X built in small towns, and which consists generally of an alternate \ 

\ door and window, repeated at regular intervals below, while a mon- I 

i otonous range of windows above eifectually repulses attention. ? 

^ This brings us to its present aspect, delineated in the lower cut of > 

\ Plate 3. The house is now divided into three tenements ; the cen- > 

I tral one is the portion set apart for exhibition, in the back rooms of | 

t which live the proprietors ; the shop, the room above, and the kitch- \ 

\ en, are sacred to visitors. When the lower part of the central ten- ^ 

\ ement was made to serve for a butcher's shop, its window was re- ^ 

$ moved, and has not been replaced ; and when the butcher's trade I 

\ ceased, a few years since, no attempt at restoration was made, and I 

i the shop still retains the signs of its late occupation. The old win- ^ 

N dow in the upper story, originally a lattice of three lights, had been ^ 

^ altered into one of four ; and modern squares of glass usurped the I 

\ place of the old leaded diamond-panes. A board for flower-pots | 

\ was erected in front of the window ; but more recently a large, ob- i 



\ THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 11 

I trusive, rudely -painted sign-board projects from the front to tell us 
^ "the immortal Shakspere was born in this house." Such is its 

present external aspect : " it is a small, mean-looking edifice," says 

Irving ; it was not so in Shakspere's time. 




I Ascending the step, we pass into tlie shop. The door is di- 
l vided into a hatch, and we look back into the street above the 
J lower half, and through the open window of the shop, with its pro- 



jecting stall for meat, and its wooden roof above. The walls of I 



s this room are of plaster, and the solid oak beams rest on the stone 
I foundation. On entering, the visitor looks towards the kitchen, 
i through the open door communicating with the shop. On tlie right 
s is a roomy fire-place, the sides built of brick, and having the chim- 
^ ney-piece above cut with a lov/-pointed arch out of a massive beam 
5 of oak. To the left of the door is a projection in the wall, which 
^ forms a recess or " bacon cupboard," the door of which opens in 
^ tlie side of the kitchen chimney of the adjoining room. The floor 



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is covered with flag-stones, broken into fifty varied shapes ; the roof 
displays the bare timbers upon which the upper story rests. 

A raised step leads from the shop to the kitchen ; it is a small 
square room, with a stone floor and a roof of massive timbers. A ^ 
door opposite the shop leads to an inner room, inhabited by the ^ 
person who shews the house. The fireplace here is large and 
roomy, the mantel-tree a solid beam of oak. Within the fireplace, 
on one side, is a hatch, opening to the " bacon cupboard" already 
spoken of; on the opposite side, is a small arched recess for a chair: 
here often sat John Shakspere ; and here his young son William 
passed his earliest days. Ireland compares the kitchen to the sub- | 
jects which " so frequently employed the rare talents of Ostade." | 
In the comer of the chimney stood an old oak chair, which had for \ 
a number of years received nearly as many adorers as the celebrated > 
shrine of the Lady of Loretto. This relic was purchased in July I 
1790 by the Princess Czartoryska, who made a journey to this place, \ 
in order to obtain intelligence relative to Shakspere ; and being told I 

s 

he had often sat in this chair, she placed herself in it, and expressed ^ 
an ardent wish to become the purchaser; but being informed that it I 
was not to be sold at any price, she left a handsome gratuity to old I 
Mrs. Harte, and left the place with apparent regret. About four | 
s months after, the anxiety of the princess could no longer be with- \ 
\ held, and her secretary was despatched express, as the fit agent, to ^ 
I purchase this treasure at any rate ; the sum of twenty guineas was t 
i the price fixed on, and the secretary and chair, with a proper certi- i 
X ficate of its authenticity on stamped paper, set off" in a chaise for 
J London. 

< With that anxiety to supply relic-hunters who visit Stratford, and 
I who sometimes feel disappointed with the little which remains there 
I connected with the Poet, the absence of tl:ie genuine chair was not I 
i long felt. A very old chair is still in the place ; and Washington \ 



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PLAT E III 




shakspere's birthplace, 1792. 




shakspere's birthplace, 1847. 



13 



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PLATE IV 




shakspere's birthplace— interior of the shop. 




SHAKSPERE S BIRTHPLACE — THE KITCHEN. 



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15 \ 



I THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 17 | 

'\ Irving thus speaks of a chair he saw in 1820: " The most favorite I 
i; object of curiosity, however, is Shakspere's chair. It stands in the i 
i; chimney-nook of a small gloomy chamber, just behind what was his > 
:; father's shop. Here he may many a time have sat when a boy, 
i ; watching the slowly -revolving spit with all the longing of an urchin ; 
;| or of an evening, listening to the crones and gossips of Stratford, 
dealing forth churchyard tales and legendary anecdotes of the 
troublesome times of England. In this chair it is the custom for 
every one that visits the house to sit ; Avhether this is done with the 
hope of imbibing any of the inspiration of the bard I am at a loss 
to say ; I merely mention the fact ; and mine hostess privately as- 
sured me, that though built of solid oak, such was the present zeal 
of devotees, that the chair had to be new-bottomed at least once in 
three years. It is worthy of notice also, in the history of this ex- 
traordinary chair, that it partakes something of the volatile nature 
of the Santa Casa of Loretto, or the flying chair of the Arabian 
enchanter ; for though sold some years since to a northern princess, 
yet, strange to tell, it has found its way back again to the old chim- 
ney-corner." 

Of the sort of Shaksperian relics exhibited in the house at this 
time he gives an amusing list. " There was the shattered stock of 
the very matchlock with which Shakspere shot the deer, on his 
poaching exploit ; there, too, was his tobacco-box, which proves that 
he was a rival smoker of Sir Walter Raleigh ; the sword also with 
which he played Hamlet ; and the identical lanthorn with which 
Friar Laurence discovered Romeo and Juliet. There was an am- 
ple supply also of Shakspere's mulberry-tree, which seems to have 
as extraordinary powers of self-multiplication as the wood of the 
true cross, of which there is enough extant to build a ship of the 
line." 

Opposite the fire-place in the kitchen is a window, and beside 



r#/'>r/>^ 



I 18 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

X this is the stair which leads into the room in which the Poet was < 

\ born. It is a low-roofed apartment, receiving its only light from the \ 

large window in front. The same huge beams project from the ^ 

plastered walls, one of considerable solidity crossing the ceiling. ^ 

The fire-place projects close to the door which leads into the room; I 

an immense beam of oak forms the mantel tree ; a large piece is cut ^ 

out of one corner, the work of an enthusiastic young lady — so said ^ 

the late proprietress, who declares that she was kept in conversation ^ 

below by the lady's female friend while the act was done. She I 

told many similar stories of Shaksperian enthusiasm, and never left > 

the room or lost sight of any one after this daring trick. To be ^ 

permitted to sleep in the room, she stated, was a very ordinary re- | 

quest made to her which she occasionally gratified ; while such fits | 

of enthusiasm as bursting into tears, or falling down and kissing the ^ 

floor, were ordinary matters, scarcely worth her noticing. ^ 

Of the old furniture in this room, and that throughout the house, I 

it may be hardly necessary to remark, that it has no absolute con- s 

nexion with Shakspere. A portrait of Shakspere, on panel, a poor » 

? performance, was brought from the White Lion Inn, a few doors | 

^ from this house. \ 

z In this room the visitor, if he pleases, may sign his name in the ^ 

\ book kept for that purpose. About 1815, the conductors of the ^ 

I public library at Stratford gave to Mrs. Hornby, the then proprie- ^ 

5 tress of the house, a book for that purpose, the walls and windows ^ 

\ having been covered before. Among many hundreds of names of ^ 

X persons of all grades and countries, occur those of Byron, Scott, X 

\ and Washington Irving, the latter three times. Many are accom- ^ 

\ panied by expressions of feeling, others by stanzas and attempts at i 

I poetry, which have been thus commented upon by one among the s 

\ number :- 



" Ah Shakspeare, when we read the votive scrawls 
With which well-meaning folks deface these walls ; 



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19 



I ■t^-t^-r-f^f*-**-^*-* 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 21 

And while we seek in vain some lucky hit, 

Amidst the lines whose nonsense nonsense smothers,— 

We find, unlike thy Falstaff in his wit, 
Thou art not here the cause of wit in others." 

The most curious feature of the room is the myriad of pencilled 
and inked autographs which cover walls, windows, and ceiling, and 
which cross and recross each other occasionally, so closely wdtten, \ 
and so continuous, that it gives the walls the appearance of being I 
covered with fine spider-web. Irving, speaking of the house, says : I 
" The walls of its squalid chambers are covered with names and i 
inscriptions in every language, by pilgrims of all nations, ranks, and | 
conditions, from the prince to the peasant, and present a simple but 2 
striking instance of the spontaneous and universal homage of man- \ 
kind to the great Poet of Nature." Books for the entry of names > 
are now kept. i 

In the adjoining public-house, when Ireland visited it in 1792, I 
was a square of glass upon which was painted the arms of the mer- ] 
chants of the Wool Staple, which he considered to be conclusive ^ 
evidence of the trade of Shakspere's father, who by some author 
was said to have been a dealer in wool. Aubrey assures us he was 
a butcher. Mr. Knight has clearly pointed out the likely origin of 
both stories, in the custom of landed proprietors, like John Shaks- 
pere, selling their own cattle and wool. The glass was brought 
here from the Guild Chapel. It therefore has no connexion with 
Shakspere. 

In a lower room of the public-house, Ireland also saw " a curious 
ancient monument over the chimney, relieved in plaster, which from 
the date, 1606, that was originally marked on it, was probably put 
up at the time, and possibly by the Poet himself. In 1759 it was 
repaired and painted in a variety of colors by the old Mr. Thomas 
Harte before-mentioned." Upon the scroll over the figures was in- 



>.AA.A*^AAA«^AAAJ^ ■ 



\ 22 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



f.r^w<^ 



scribed, 'Samuel xvii. a. d. 1606;' and round tlie border, in a 
" continuous line, was this stanza in black letter : — 

"©cl':ii) comes toitl) stoccti miti spear, 

SnU 23a'i;i)3 toitt) a slinn; 
Bltljoufll) (So!it!) ra3': anti stocnrr, 

ISoiDu 23abit( ^otl) t)im tiring."' 




We copy Ireland's engraving of this solitary fragment of the in- 
ternal decoration of Shakspere's house ; although we much question 
the propriety of imagining the possibility of Shakspere pla^cing such 
ludicrous doggrel there. The house was at that time in the occu- 
pation of his sister ; and she most probably resided in the other half 
of this then large tenement. So that neither may have been guilty 
of it. The bas-relief was carried away some years ago by the pro- 
prietor of the inn. 




\ The font in which the Poet was christened is here engraved. It \ 



PLATE VI. 




EXTERIOR OF THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 




INTERIOR — THE MATHEMATICAL-SCHOOL. 



24 



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t 

J THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 25 5 

\ . \ 

\ is but a fragment, the upper portion only. The same style was % 

> adopted with singular good taste for the new font in the church, \ 

l Avhich may therefore be considered as a restoration of it. Mr* \ 

X Knight has thus given its history : " The parochial accounts of ^ 

I Stratford sIj^w that about the middle of the seventeenth century a $ 

^ new font was set up. The beautiful relic of an older time, from s 

i which William Shakspere had received the baptismal water, was, \ 

X after many years, found in the old charnel-house. When that was 5 

^ pulled down it was kicked into the churchyard, and half a century % 

\ ago was removed by the parish-clerk to form the trough of a pump \ 

I at his cottage. Of the parish-clerk it was bought by the late Cap- ^ 

s tain Saunders ; and from his possession came into that of the pres- \ 

\ ent owner. Mr. Heritage, a builder at Stratford." It is still in his \ 

\ possession. The font shewn at the Shakspere Arms is reported to \ 

\ have been brought from the neighboring church of Bidford. | 

\ From the house where Shakspere was born to the place where he i 

\ obtained his " small Latin and less Greek," is but a short distance. % 



\ THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL \ 

\ is situated in the High Street, beside the Chapel of the Guild, or \ 

\ of the Holy Cross, a good specimen of the ecclesiastical architecture \ 

\ of the reign of Henry VH. ; and the interior of which was origin- \ 

X ally decorated with a series of remarkable paintings ; the principal \ 

\ being the legendary history of the Holy Cross. In this chapel, at X 

X one ume, the school was held ; and an order in the corporation \ 

\ books, dated February, 1594, directs " that there shall be no school \ 

? kept in the chapel from this time following.'' The occupation of | 

\ the chapel as a school may have been but a temporary tiling ; but \ 

\ Shakspere may have imbibed some portion of his learning within \ 

\ its walls. The foundation of the Grammar School took place in | 

5 the reign of Edward IV. In 1482, Thomas JolyfTe gave certain \ 



26 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



lands and tenements to the Guild of the Holy Cross, to maintain " a 
priest fit and able in knowledge to teach grammar freely to all 
scholars coming to the school in the said town to him, taking noth- 
ing of the scholars for their teaching." On the dissolution of the 
guild, Edward VI., in the seventh year of his reign, ordered that 
" the free grammar school for the instruction and education of boys 
and youth there, should be thereafter kept up and maintained as here- 
tofore it used to be." 




\ 

The Latin schoolroom is situated over the old Guildhall, and is t 

that portion of the building nearest the chapel. It is a perfectly I 

plain room, with a low plaster ceiling ; but from the massive beams X 

at the sides of the room, and those above the modern plaster, to ^ 

which the struts from the side beams form a support, as well as from \ 

the external appearance of the deeply-pitched roof, there can be : 

little doubt that an open timber roof originally decorated this apart- | 



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28 



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THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



29 



ment. The Mathematical schoolroom beside it has a flat roof, crossed 
by two beams of the Tudor era ; and in the centre of the roof, where 
they meet each other, is a circular ornament or boss. The school 
has been recently repaired, and it has entirely lost its look of an- 
tiquity. A few years ago there were many very old desks and form, 
there ; and one among them was termed Shakspere's desk. It is 
now kept below. We engrave a representation of it. The tradi- 




tion which assigned it to Shakspere may be very questionable ; its 
being the oldest and in the worst condition may have been the 
reason for such an appropriation. The boys of the school very gen- 
erally carried away some portion of it as a memento, and the relic- 
hunters frequently behaved as boyishly, so that a great portion of the 
old wood has been abstracted. 

The court-yard of the school presented many features of interest ; 

but the hand of modern " improvement" has swept them away. On 

a visit to Stratford eight years ago, the author obtained the following 

sketch. The schools were at that time approached by an antique 

external stair, roofed with tile, and up which the boys had ascended 

I from the time of Shakspere. This characteristic feature has passed 

I away : its only record is the cut now given ; the court-yard has been 

\ subdivided and walled ; and the original character of this portion of 

\ the building has departed for ever. 



5>yv>^^yvvv/wvsA/vwr'y 



30 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

For the mementoes of Shakspere's later life, we must look m the 
neighborhood of Stratford. Tradition assigns adventures and visits 
to many places in its vicinity ; but the most important locality with 
which his name is connected is the Park of Sir Thomas Lucy at 
Charlecote. 

This was ine scene of his deer-stealing adventures, which led, | 
says tradition, to his quarrel with Sir Thomas, to a lampoon by the I 
Poet, which occasioned him to leave Stratford for London in greater % 
haste than he wished, and produced his connexion with thetheatres. \ 

; ; Of these tales we must speak farther on. But first let us say a few I 
words on this ancient mansion. i 

Dugdale has given the history of Charlecote and its lords with I 
much minuteness. It is mentioned in Domesday Book ; and its old I 
Saxon name Ceorlcote — the home of the husbandman — carries us \ 

; ; back to years before the Conquest. The present house was built in ^ 
1558 by Thomas Lucy, who in 1593 was knighted by Queen Eliza- t 
beth. It stands at a short distance from, and at some little eleva- | 
tion above, the river Avon. The building forms three sides of a I 
quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a handsome central gate- | 

! house, some distance in advance of the main building. The | 

\ octangular turrets on each side, and the oriel window over the gate, 
are peculiar and pleasing features. The house retains its gables 
and angular towers, but has suffered from the introduction of the 
large and heavy sash-windows of the time of William III. or George 
I. In Thomas's edition of Dugdale's Warwickshire, published in i 
1730, there is an interesting " East prospect of Charlecote," drawn I 
by H. Beighton ip 1722, which gives a curious bird's eye view of ^ 
the entire house and gardens in their original state ; that is, in the \ 
state in which Skakspere would see them. A reduced copy of this I 
view appears opposite. There is another view, showing the back | 
of the house from the river, preserved in the hall, and which appears \ 




^.«VS<VS/W^y^V^^^/ 



31 i 




34 



^*t<^s*^^fr^*4 



■ ^ 



> THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 35 

I to have been painted about the reign of James II. It shows the 

I building to have been at that time precisely in the same condition ; 

^ and as all modernisation has affected the interior principally, the 

\ exterior aspect is now much the same as it was in the daysof the Poet. 




I Passing through the old gate, we enter the court-yard, which, m 
I place of the old fountain and circular tank of water, is now laid out 
I in flower-bed. The hall is entered by a porch having the family 
arms and crest at each angle. We give a view of the interior as it 
is now. It has undergone alterations since Washington Irving 
thus described it in his Sketch-book : " The ceiling is arched and 
lofty ; and at one end is a gallery, in which stands an organ [this 
has now been removde]. The weapons and trophies of the chase, 
which formerly adorned the hall of a country gentleman, have made 
way for family portraits. There is a wide hospitable fireplace, 
calculated for an ample old fashioned wood fire, formerly the rally- 
ing place of winter festivity. On tlie opposite side of the hall is 



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36 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

tlie huge Gothic bow-window with stone shafts, which looks out 

upon the court-yard. Here are emblazoned, in stained glass, the 

armorial bearings of the Lucy family for many generations, some 
i; being dated in 1558 I was delighted to observe in the quarterings 

the three white luces, by which the character of Sir Thomas was 
i| first identified with that of Jus- 

tice Shallow." The seal of Sir 

Thomas Lucy, here engraved, 

exhibits the three white luces 

interlaced. The autograph is 

written in a bold hand. Our - — - 

cut is reduced to one half the size of the ori- 
ginal. The document from which it is obtained 

is in the possession of Mr. Wheler, of Strata 

ford-on- Avon, and is appended to the presen^^ 

tation of the Rev. Richard Hill to the rectory 
; of Hampton Lucy, in the gift of Sir Thomas^ 
I and is dated October 8th, 1586. Upon the 
; vanes of the house at Charlecote, the three 
; luces interlaced between cross crosslets are 
; also displayed ; an engraving of one of 
i these vanes may be seen in Moule's Heraldry 
\ of Fishy p. 55, who says: "The pike of the fisherman is the luce 

of heraldry ; a name derived from the old French language lus^ 

or from the Latin lucius ; as a charge it was very early used 

by heralds as a pun upon the name of Lucy." 

The deer-stealing story, unlike a matter of fact, has grown to be 

more defined and clear the nearer it approaches our own time. It first 
V commences by traditionary stories loosely put down, and exceedingly 
I inaccurate in detail. Mention is made of a lost ballad satirising Sir 
\ Thomas. By and by a Stanza is found ; and ultimately we get the 




^^^t^■**^^>n^»*^*^*^^*^^*.**■^*^^*^^^i^^.^^^^^r*•^*^^***•****^^^*^^** 



■^*-*^ 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 37 

entire ballad, about as scurrilous and worthless a composition as 
ever forger fixed on a great man. This ballad is evidently made up 
from the allusions in the first scene of the Merry Wives of Windsor^ 
which, as Malone observes, " certainly afford ground for believing 
that our author, on some account or other, had not the most profound 
respect for Sir Thomas Lucy. The ' dozen white luces,' however, 
which Shallow is made to commend as ' a good coat,' was not Sir 
Thomas Lucy's coat of arms." Granting, however, that Shakspere 
had in his youthful days mixed with " roysterers," which is far from 
unlikely, the offence of deer-stealing at that time was looked upon 
in a very diflTerent light from that in which we should now view it. 
The laxity of game-laws then, and the sympathy with which popu- 
lar feeling regarded the act, re-echoed only the sentiments rendered 
popular by the constant singing of the Robin Hood ballads ; and 
viewed such adventures much as we should regard the boyish 
robbing of an orchard. The plays and pomes of the period abound 
with the expression of similar sentiments. In the play of Th& 
Merry Devil of Edmonton, mine Host and Sir John the Priest both 
join in the fun of deer-stealing ; the Host declaring, " I'll have a 
buck till I die, I'll slay a doe while I live." Reputation was not 
lost by such outbreaks ; and Shakspere might have stolen a deer 
without any serious consequences. It is commonly related at the 
time as often done. Malone has quoted many passages to prove 
this ; and in Reynolds' Epigrammasticon, 1642, occurs the following 
lines, which are conclusive : 



" Harry and I, in youth long since, 
Did doughty deeds, but some nonsense : 
We read our books, we sang our song, 
We stole a deer, who tliought it wrong 7 
To cut a purse deserves but banging, 
To steel a deer deserves but batigingJ 






r^'ff^^^**^^tt*f^**ff^^^ 



38 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



? Shakspere may therefore have stolen a deer; Sir Thomas may 
^ have treated the matter a little more seriously than was generally 
I the wont with those who only judged of other's property ; but the 
I vindictiveness and ill-feeling of the whole story is the invention of 
I more modern times. Sir Thomas appears to have been an exem- ^ 
\ plary country gentleman. He died Aug. 18, 1600, and is buried in 
Charlecote Church, a short distance from the family seat. His 
effigy, and that of his wife, are sculptured there. They are exe- 
cuted in a masterly manner, and may be considered as careful 




^ portraits. That of the knight has been given by Ireland, but his 

I copy has no resemblance to the original. The cut here engraved 

5 is a more careful copy of a finer head than any Justice Shallow 

^ could show. That Sir Thomas had an equally fine heart, the epi- 

Z taph on the black slab in the recess at the back of the tomb will shew. 

I With singular good taste his own name is not mentioned ; but his 

i 



I 



l^.^y'^.A^v^.A^^A^^^^./A^jNM.^y^.^.^^.A^.^^^v^^^vs/s^.rA/'rfy^.A^^^^A^.A^./v^A.A^^y^^^r^./^v^^v^^.^^^AA*^^ 



-^A<5> 




39 



> *f^f-f-t*.rr-rr^f<***f-t^ ^*^^^-r-f^.ff't^'f*^,f^-ftj^'*^'*^*~/-t-**^*^t**fr^-f-^^rf*^ 



X 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 43 

■wife's virtues are recorded in the following touching and beautiful 
inscription : 



HERE ENTOMBED LYETH THE LADY JOYCE LUCY, WIFE OF SIR 
THOMAS LUCY, OF CHERLECOTE, IN THE COUNTY OF WARWICK, 
KNIGHT, DAUGHTER AND HEIR OF THOMAS ACTON, OF SUTTON, IN 
THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ESQUIER, WHO DEPARTED OUT OF 
t THIS WRETCHED WORLD TO HER HEAVENLY KINGDOME, THE TENTH 
DAY OF FEBRUARY, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD GOD 1595, OF HER 
AGE LX. AND THREE. ALL THE TIME OF HER LIFE A TRUE AND 
FAITHFUL SERVANT OF HER GOOB GOD, NEVER DETECTED OF ANY 
CRIME OR VICE ; IN RELIGION MOST SOUND J IN LOVE TO HER HUS- 
BAND MOST FAITHFULL AND TRUE ; IN FRIENDSHIP MOST CON- 
STANT ; TO WHAT WAS IN TRUST COMMITTED TO HER MOST SECRET ; 
IN WISDOME excelling; in GOVERNING OF HER HOUSE, AND BRING- 
ING UP OF YOUTH IN THE FEARE OF GOD THAT DID CONVERSE WITH 
HER, MOST RARE AND SINGULAR. A GREAT MAINTAINER OF HOSPI- 
TALITY ; GREATLY ESTEEMED OF HER BETTERS ; MISLIKED OF NONE 
UNLESS OF THE ENVIOUS. WHEN ALL IS SPOKEN THAT CAN BE 
SAID, A WOMAN SO FURNISHED AND GARNISHED WITH VIRTUE, AS 
NOT TO BE BETTERED, AND HARDLY TO BE EQUALLED BY ANY. AS 
Z SHE LIVED MOST VIRTUOUSLY, SO SHE DYED MOST GODLY. SET 
^ DOWN BY HIM THAT BEST DID KNOW WHAT HATH BEEN WRITTEN 
^ TO BE TRUE. THOMAS LUCY. 



Respected be the memory of Sir Thomas ! A boyish outbreak, 
if rebuked harshly in a moment of irritability, was, we are sure, 
forgiven and forgotten by Shakspere, whom we know to have been 
in friendly communication with the family afterAvards. The dignity 



44 Ttiiii mm^ or NMAKNfKHiii 

'I'liiw iImhi wiMMliiiji wliuy hwM (*VMM liM«HMii(i iiHH'^ Hi'iuly tlMml in ivn 
«il.|ulnln|| Ittimlily, whm'M *vw mi'm MMi'lHlii il. (mmiIiI iml- Iim (run. l^wU 
lH'M(ik(i I'Mili is iimrlf II»m nmmiim of llin M*[«hiil, hiiiI IrttlmMl mt^i'^vfiii 
thti hunpMi'ti litdgii lh»irp, ill wliiiili Hli«l(W|»Mrt» wmw iMuirtiiml wlitiii 

t'MMIilll '•' '♦>'=* iMWlMWWMiittS, TllP llMUr |«mU Hi lllMWHUlM )»Ih»<M, VVllt*!'** 

NliHM[i^i'^ (iauP^H<lM(1 t(ti^ m\\mm \w nIoI^, iH hImii mIimw u. Mr. K iti(j(hl;, 
In whuiii lHj](UiptlioinPrii. of iiivMMliijMliiitf pImhiIv Him wholtiof thin 
(JM0r wImmIum^ wliny, Mnyw, '* A word mi two «l|rt|MtMMW of lliiw jmrt of 
this Imrtitloni l'iilhi'ook§ Pfti'k rtlrt uot poine into tlj§ jiosspsMioii .1 
(liM hiMiy fMiiiily lill iliM giwiilMOu id' Mii 'riioivwii jiuvplmHtid il iHlUe 
ruijjju (»f (ImuuH I, ! " 

I'l^wsiMiJf tl^oiu Mil uiHilwwtoti n>iuiuiM(Jt»upPfl of Nmliw|»mVi* i' 
deiM'M Hi Nli'Hlitu'd, iul iia {^\\Hi il qulul, ^vulh liy lltu Htdd |>i«l)i Otftl 
IPiidM 111 



ANNIi) IIATII WVAVN ('()'|"|'A(Hi). 
Ily (|(iM t^Mihvity Ihu I'uul itiiiui Imvu oIImm wwiulniMd \\\ Ihn *JVt»n« 

i»»tf to his 'Mndy^lovp." it iw <» jdnHmut wftlk-«=^ft n\mi ioIIm ftwii 
Nlwl(i4i'd, iiuini Hud liiJiuriuid im tlm IhimIwi^hIim wlii»di lutJulm llit» 
MyM nil wnmudi uovn llMld^i, wud |Hv«tio'p iMud, himI Biuiy tHnowj tl«»* 
t\mU old-tUMhlooMd ^i\U\m of WhoHi»t'y i^ptbcp i thp wood-^miiosom« 
tid Imm(mmi4 nf Nlwirtu'd Utihiud i wh^vp t^'Oiu Hinoug tlin Uvi^n wliootn 
M|i Him MJnyiMd wniro of oop of llit» uiowt l^uwutihil of om* iMumtry 
iduH'idiMH, Hludloiy t*hood« with old lu\lf-Hiol»oi't»d huuntiM \ nod ou*i 
now IV lilllti I'lmd wido inn, onllod **'IMim NlmU|>oi'*i," ia » phimIhI p*t-« 
ttn^jdM, Hnd wtwnds hpwidn tlm tttild pHili ut Hw omnmtinotimynt of tht» 
l^tm lomiin^ to Anno'i^ Umm^ INntopudoi^' down (lou innt^i \vp 
p<HWrt iv lnH4<4 I iv t^w ywvHln tUi'thtn*, tvnd wo v^ivol^ tlio l»onKio, Il i« »v 
louii^ thuti»htid twjonvwvt of tiinl^ov mil |div»<tov, MnliwlHidlHlly l»uiU 



'^M4^H444*U*^M'44^**UUH^H4***M^00^M4*MM4* H^H 



1 








5 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 47 ! 

I upon a foundation of squared slabs of lias shale, which is a charac- 

? teristic of the V/arwickshire cottages, and is seen in Shakspere's 

< birthplace, as already noted. On looking 

I up at the central chimney, the spectator 

I may be startled at the date which is here 

I enoraved. It is cut on stone, and let into 

I the bricks ; and simply records the repara- 

\ tion of the house by John Hathaway, who 
appears to have done much for its comforts, 

as we shall see. But the house itself has 

come in for a share of the doubts which ? 

have succeeded the credulity of past times, and it has been declared J 
not to be Anne's father's* Mr. Knight has sifted the evidence, and I 
triumphantly disproved the doubt. John Hathaway held property \ 
at Shottery in 1543. Richard Hathaway, the father of Anne^ was ^ 
intimate with Shakspere's father, for the latter stood as his bondman s 
in an action at law dated 1576. There is no doubt that the Hatha- I 
ways held the house here long before ; the purchase was, however, only \ 
effected in 1606. That Anne should be described as " of Stratford " s 
in the marriage-bond is not singular : Shottery is but a hamlet of | 
the parish of Stratford. \ 

This house, like Shakspere's birthplace, is subdivided into three \ 
tenements. By referring to our engraving of the exterior from the \ 
garden, this will be most clearly understood. The square, compact, \ 
and taller half of the building to the reader's left forms one house. | 
The other two are divided by the passage, which runs entirely through \ 
the lower half, from the door in front, to which the steps lead, to that \ 
seen close to the railings in our back view. This passage serves 
for both tenements. That to the right on entering consists of one 
large room below, with a chimney extending the whole width of the 
house, with an oven and boiler ; shewing that this was the principal 
kitchen when the house was all in one. The door to the left leads 



48 



THE HOME or 9HAKSPERE. 



I into the parlor, which is here engraved. It is a large, low-roofed ^ 
^ room, ceiled with strong beams of timber, and much resembling the | 




K»ER'* 



I kitchen of Shakspere's birthplace. A " bacon cupboard " of simi- 
\ lar construction, is also on the left side of the fire-place, upon the 
i transverse bar of which is cut " I H • E H • I B • 1697," the initials of 
I John HathaAvay, his wife Anne, and, it may be, the maker of the 
i door, which has been cut ornamentally. The first two initials and 
I the date are the same as upon the large chimney, which belongs to 
> this room, and which has been already noticed. Upon an old table 
I beneath the window, " M * H " is carved ; all indicative of the pro- 
\ prietors. Mr. Knight says: "The Shottery property, which was 
5 called Hewland, remained with the descendants of the Hathaways 
i till 1838." The present resident in this central tenement is the 
i granddaughter of John Hathaway Taylor ; a relative, whose Bible, 
? dated 1776, still lies on the dresser. He was a man Avho cared little 
for relics, or the ^associations connected with the house, which was 
then seldom visited. The furniture, and a full service of antique 
pewter, which had garnished the dresser for many years, in his time 
disappeared. When Ireland visited this cottage in 1792, he speaks 



,^ 




50 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



51 




of the descendants of the family as " poor and numerous ;" and at 
this time he saw and purchased an old 
oak chair, which he has engraved in 
I his Picturesque Views on the Avon, 
\ and which is here copied. He says 
\ it was called " Shakspere's courting 
5 chair." With a similar desire to 
^ please relic-lovers to that which has 
X been already shewn to ha\ e once ex- 
% isted in Shakspere's birthplace con- 
% cerning the chair there, this chair, al- 
"i. though long since gone, has a succes- 
I sor dignified by the same name, in an 
^ old settle in the passage through the house, and which has but one 
^ old bit of wood, the seat, in it. It is but fair to add, that those 
I who are sceptical are not met by bold assertions of its genuine 
^ ness, although there be no denial of its possible claim to that 
I quality ; but all credulous and believing persons are allowed the 
X full benefit of their faith. In addition to Shakspere's chair, Ireland 
\ was shewn " a purse which had been likewise his, and handed down 
f from him to his granddaughter Lady Barnard, and from her to the 
\ Hathaway family," then existing. At the time of the Stratford Ju- 
I bilee, George, the brother of David Garrick, purchased from the old 
^ lady who then lived here, an inkstand and a pair of fringed gloves, 
X said to have been worn by Shakspere. David, with his usual care- 
i fulness, purchased no such doubtful ware. 

The bed-room over this parlor is ascended by a ladder-like stair ; 

and here stands an old carved bedstead, certainly as old as the 

Shaksperian era. It is elaborately and tastefully executed, and has 

been handed down as an heir-loom with the house. In Ireland's 

\ time, the old woman of the house, Avho was then upwards of seventy, 



I 52 THE HOME OF SHAKStERE. 

I declared that she had slept in the bed from her childhood, and was 
^ always told it had been there since the house was built. Whether 
I there in Anne's time, or brought there since, it is ancient enough 
I for her or her family to have slept in, and adds an interest to the 
quaint bed-room in the roof. In a Chest beside it is a pillow-case 
and sheet, marked " E. H.,'' and ornamented with open-work down 
the centre ; they are of home-spun fabric, the work of " the spin- 
ster " when single country girls earned the name. 

The back-view of the house is more picturesque than the iron 
one. The ground rises from the road to a level with the back-door. 
Tall trees overshadow it, and a rltstic stile beside them leads into a 
meadow, where stands some cottages as old as the home of the 
Hathaways. There is much to interest the student-lover of the old ^ 
rural life of England in Shottery. I 

From the period of Shakspere's marriage to that of his retirement i 
ftom London, thefe is nothing to connect him with Stratford and its 
neighborhood. We must look elsewhere But with the natural love 
of a true-hearted man, we find that he made his native town the 
[ home he visited whenever he had the opportunity, and chose for his 
I place ro retirement when the busy metropolitan duties he had fulfilled 
\ ensured him competence. 

I NEW PLACE, 

\ 

\ the house he had purchased at the early age of thirty-three, he died ^ 

\ at that of fifty-two. " He was wont to go to his native country 

^ once a year," says Aubrey ; and he had so intimately connected 

\ himself with Stratford by the purchase of property and other things, 

^ that his mind was evidently fixed on that town with an endearing ; 

\ affection through life, and which led him to look towards it as his ; 
resting-place. New Place, we are informed by Dugdale, was : 



< 




53 



*>^A^^^«^^» A^.A^^>^y^«#>/^^^A«s4V^ ^^A^A/./y^^^^^»^ > ^>^>/'»/^/^r.A/>^^/./^<^A^^AV^^^r^^.^^V^/^wr^^ i 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 55 

originally erected by Sir Hugh Clopton, temp. Henry VH. It was, 
he says, " a fair house, built of brick and timber.'^ It was sold to 
the Underbill family, and was purchased from them by Shakspere in 
I 1597, who having repaired and modelled it to his own mind, changed 
^ the name to New Place, which it retained until its demolition, 
I Shakspere, by his will, gave it to his daughter, Mrs. Hall, for her 
I life, and then to her daughter Elizabeth, afterwards Lady Barnard. 
\ On her death it was sold to Sir Edward Walker, whose only 
^ daughter marrying Sir John Clopton, it again came into the hands 
I of its ancient possessors. Sir John gave it to his younger son, Sir 
? Hugh, who resided in it during the latter part of his life, and died 
^ there in Dec. 1751. By him the mansion was repaired, and a 
\ modern front built to it; and here, in 1742, he entertained Macklin, 
I Garrick, and Dr. Delany, beneath the mulberry-tree which Shakspere 
had planted in the garden. By Sir Hugh's son-in-law the mansion 
was sold, in 1753, to the Rev. F. Gastrell, a man of unhappy temper, 
who being annoyed by visitors requesting to see the mulbery-tree' 
ruthlessly cut it down in 1756, to save himself the trouble of 
I shewing it. This rendered him exceedingly unpopular in the town, 
i and he resided there but seldom ; but the house being rated as if he 
I constantly lived there, in a fit of ill-humor, he declared that that 
\ house should never be assessed again, — he pulled it down, sold the 
^ materials, and left the town universally execrated. 
5 There are no views of the house as it was in Shakspere's time. 
^ The view engraved so frequently is an imposition. Malone first 
I published it, " from an ancient survey," in which it is not stated to I 
5 represent New Place, or any other place in particular. He ordered i 
i the discoverer of this survey, Mr. Jordan of Stratford, to add the \ 
\ arms of Shakspere over the door, because " they were likely to have I 



I been there !" and to add " neat wooden pales " in front. To which ^ 
^ liberal direction Jordan added the porch! and so originated this \ 




I 53 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. i; 

\ 

I authentic picture. A view of New Place, as altered by Sir Hugh ;: 

Clopton, and as it appeared previous to its demolition, may be seen \ 

in Mr. R. B. Wheeler's « History of Stratford-on-Avon." Not a \ 

feature of the ancient Shaksperian residence had then been suffere \ 

to remain. \ 



X 

In the garden of Mr. Hunt, to whose family Mrs. Gastrell sold 

the site of New Place in 1775, are two fragments of the house. 

One is a stone lintel ; the other, a portion of sculpture, in stone 
i also, which may have been placed over a door. It is ornamented 
< with a shield, but the bearings cannot now be distinguished, 
^ owing to decay. On each side are groups of flowers, also much 
\ injured by time. 

\ It is traditionally reported that the White Lion Inn was built from 
\ the materials of New Place. The panelling of an entire room was 
\ fitted up in the parlor of the Falcon Inn opposite, where it still 
\ remains. It exhibits a series of square sunk panels, covering the 
\ entire Avails, the upper row being elongated, Avith a plain cornice 
\ aud dentals above. From the similarity of the panel and cornice \ 
\ upon Avhich the portrait of Shakspere is painted, already spoken of ^ 
? as standing in his birth-room, and the tradition that it was brought \ 
i from the White Lion Inn, it may have been also a part of the ^ 
I decoration of New Place when it was last " repaired and beautified." | 



ff^ ff-t^:t^^*^f^^^j^j'^^^-^ ^f^*^^,^*********'**-**** **~^*^*j^*^ff-f*-r*-ff-**^t*f*^*J^-f**r^f^/^r^.fj^ , 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



57 



There is another and apparently genuine relic of New Place at 
present in the possession of the Court family, who own Shakspere^s 
house. It is a square of glass, measuring 9 inches by 7, in which 
a circular piece is leaded, haying the letters " W. A. S.," for Wil- 




liam and Ann Shakspere, lied in " a true lovers knot,^' and the date, 

I 1615, the year before the Poet's death, beneath. A relative of the 

I late Mrs. Court, whose ancestor had been employed to pull down 

I New Place, had saved this square of glass, but attached little value 

I to it. He gave it to her, but she had an honest dislike to the many 

\ pretenders to relics, and never shewed this glass unless it was 

^ expressly requested by the few who had heard of it. She told her 

§ story simply, made no comments and urged no belief. The letters 

^ and figures are certainly characteristic ; they are painted in dark 

I brown outline, tinted with yellow. The border is also yellow. The 

\ lead is decayed, and the glass loose. It altogether appears to be as 

\ genuine a relic as any that have been offered. It has not been en- 

\ graved before. We have now but to visit 

I THE TOMB OF SHAKSPERE | 

\ in the chancel of the beautiful church of Stratford. It is placed I 



^,^y^.rA/>'A/sArsAArysAr/vs/'^/AAAAA.A/srysA/sAy'/^A/.^rv/^v\/'y\^A^>A/vi/./ 



58 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 

against a blank window, on the left of the spectator as he faces the 
altar. How soon it was erected after the Poet's death, we cannot 
confidently say ; but that it was before 1623 we can ascertain from 
Leonard Digges verses prefixed to the first edition of the Poet's 
works. A half-length figure of him is placed in a niche, above is 
his arms ; on each side of which are seated cherubs, one holding an 
inverted torch, with a skull beside him, the other a spade ; on the 
apex above is another skull. Beneath the cushion on which the 
Poet is writing is inscribed : 

[ JVDICIO PYLIVM, GENiO SOCRAT EM ARTE MARONEM, 

\ TERRA TEGII* POPVLVS M^RET, OLYMPVS HABET. 

\ STA\, passenger; WHI^ GOEST thou by so I*AST? 

\ READ, IF THOV CANST, WHOM ENVIOVS DEATH HATH PLAST 

\ WTHIN THIS MONVMENT: SHAKSPEARE, WITH WHOME 

\ QVICK NATVRE DiDE *, WHOSE J^^AME DOTH DECK YS. TOMBE 

I FAR MORE THEN COST; SITH ALL YT, HE HATH WRITT 

\ LEAVES LIVING ART BVT PAGE TO SERVE HIS WITT. 

? Obiit. Ano. Doi. 1616. ? 

? ^tatis 53. Die 23, Ap. ? 

\ ^ 

I The half-length effigy of Shakspere was originally painted after I 

\ nature. The eyes were a light hazel; the hair and beard auburn. I 

\ The dress was a scarlet doublet slashed on the breast, over which ^ 

was a loose black gown without sleeves. The upper part of the I 

cushion was crimson, the lower green ; the cord which bound it X 

and the tassels were gilt. John Ward, grandfather of the Kembles, I 

caused the tomb to be repaired and the original colors restored in | 

1748, from the profits of the performance of OtMlo. In 1793, \ 

\ Malone, in an evil hour, gained permission to paint it white ; and ^ 

I also the effigy of Shakspere's friend, John Combe, who lies beside \ 

\ the altar. Mr. Knight has most justly stigmatised this act as one x 

\ - ^....^ I 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



59 



of " unscrupulous insolence." Certainly Malone was at much pains 
to ^vTite himself down an ass. 

We learn from Dugdale's correspondence, that the sculptor of 
this monument was Gerard Johnson. His work has been subjected 
to much criticism, particularly by such as are anxious to have Shak» 
spere not only a great poet, but a handsome man. This bust does 
not please them. Mr. Skottowe declares that it " is not only at 
variance with the tradition of Shakspere's appearance having been 
prepossessing, but irreconcilable with the belief of its ever having 
borne a striking resemblance to any human being." A most sweep- 
ing conclusion, against which most modern authors and artists have 
arrayed themselves. It is a curious fact that Martin Droeshout's % 
portrait prefixed to the folio of 1623, and beneath which, Ben John- i 
son has affixed verses attesting its accuracy, and which all his " fel- I 
lows" who aided in this edition as well as others who knew and loved \ 
the man could also confirm, bears a decided similarity to this bust, f 
Marshall seems to have depended on the same authority for the 
portrait he engraved for the edition of Shakspere's poems in J 640. 
'^ All agree in one striking feature ; the noble forehead and quiet un- 
ostentatious kindly expression of feature which must have belonged 
to " the gentle Shakspere." These early artists appear to have been 
literal copyists, and the bust at Stratford is the best, and I incline to 
5 think the only authority to be depended on. It was probably cut 
i from a cast taken after death ; and it is remarkable that it stands a 
5 good test phrenologically as if it had been adapted to the Poet — a 
? singular instance of its truth. Another corroborative proof exists in I 
> what has been objected to as inaccurate, the length of the upper ^ 
lip ; but Sir Walter Scott, whose intellect most nearly approached > 
the Poet, had the same feature and the same commanding head. ^ 
The ghastly white paint upon the bust, the high position it occu- ^ 
pies in the church, and the bad light that there falls on it, hinders i 



r 

5 ^ 



60 THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. \ 

^ the due appreciation of its merits. The features are regular, nay, | 
^ handsome and intelligent; but it is evident that such a head de- \ 
pended on its living expression, and that then it must have been emi- \ 
nently gentle and prepossessing. The lower part of the face, \ 
though inclined to be fleshy, does not injure the features, which i 
\ are all delicately formed, and the side-view of the head is very fine ; \ 
a careful copy adorns our title-page. An intent study of this bust 
enforces the belief, that all the manifold peculiarities of feature so 
characteristic of the Poet, and which no chance could have origmat- 
ed, and no theory account for, must have resulted from its being a 
transcript of the Man ; one that has received the confirmation of his 
own living relatives and friends, the best and only portrait to be 
now relied on. 

The gravestones of the Shakspere family lie in a row in front of 
the altar-rails, upon the second step leading to it. His wife's is 
immediately beneath his tomb. It is a flat stone, the surface in- 
jured by time, having a small brass plate let in it with this inscrip- 
tion : here given literally, as are all the other inscriptions. They 
have been incorrectly printed in most instances. * 



HERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF ANNE 
WIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. WHO DEPTED 
THIS LIFE THE 6 DAY OF AVG : 1623. BEING OF 
THE AGE OF Q7 YEARES ; 

Vbera tu mater, tu lac vitamq, dedisti, 

Vse mihi pro tanto munere Saxa dabo, 
Quam mallem amoveat lapidem bonus Angel' ore' 

Exeat Christi corpus imago tua ; 
Sed nil vota valent, venias cito Christe, resurget, 

Clausa licet tumulo mater, et estra petet. 



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r^A^ysr^^^.A/VN/'A^Wy 



THE HOME OF SHAKSPERE. 



63 



Next comes that placed over the body of the Poet. It is right 
here to state that the four lines upon it have been generally printed 
with an absurd mixture of great and small letters: it is here care- 
fully reduced from a rubbing taken on the stone. The only pecu- 
liarity it possesses ovelr ordinary inscriptions is the 




abbreviation for the word that, and the grouping together of some of 
the letters after the fashion of a monogram. Other instances of 
similar usages are common in inscriptions of the same age. There 
is a traditionary story, bearing date 1693, which says, " His wife 
and daughters did earnestly desire to be laid in the same grave with 
him," but that " not one for fear of the curse above said dare touch 
his gravestone." 

Next to that of Shakspere lies a stone commemorating the rest- 
ing-place of Thomas Nash, who married the only daughter of the 
Poet's daughter Susanna ; this lady afterwards married Sir John 
Barnard, and died at Abington, near Northampton, in 1670, in whom 
the direct line of the Poet's issue ceased. Dr. John Hall, her father, 
lies next ; and last comes Susanna, his wife. The whole of the 
rhyming part of her epitaph had been obliterated, and upon the 
place was cut an inscription to the memory of one Richard Watts. 
This has in its turn been erased, and the original inscription restored 
by lowering the surface of the stone and recutting the letters. The 
tombs of Hall and Nash have also been renovated by deepening the 
letters and recutting the armorial bearings, which has been done 



64 TfJE HOME or SHAKSPE^i;. 

under the judicious and careful superintendence of R. B. Wheler, 
Esq., of Stratford, and the sole expense of the Rev. W. Harness, 
whose public-spirjted and honorable act deserves as much praise as 
Malone's miserable meddling does reprobation, 



I # 

^ Such are the relics, genuine and supposititious, and the localities 
\ which connect themselves with the history of " the world's Poet" at 
I Stratford. It has been the object of the author of this unpretending 
I hand-book to collect, engrave and describe all that could be found, 
I and which no work of greater pretensions has yet done so com- 
i pletely. The drawings have all been placed upon the wood by his 
I own hand, and engraved under his superintendence. Several visits 
I to Stratford have enabled him to obtain many drawings and many 
f facts of a local character not elsewhere set down. In this world of 
Z change and fancied improvement such records may be useful, par- 
I ticularly when they are connected with one who has most honored 

1 his native land by his writings, and of whom Englishmen have 
\ most reason to be proud! 

2 ^' Triumph, my Britain ! thou hast one to show, 
I - To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. 
Z He was not of an age, but for all time; 

< And all the Muses still were in their prime, 

I • When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm 

Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm. 
Nature herself was proud of his designs, 
And joy'd lo wear the dressing of his lines." 

B. JONSON. 



THE END. 






r^4Vs>vs^J^^/^A«r<^v^r.^^v^r^^.r^^^A^^V'^^^^/^ 



THE 



HOME OF SHAKSPERE 

Sllustrat^ir ani OeBrribeir. 

BY F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. 

AUTHOR OF '^CQSTUME IN ENQLAND," ETC, 



THIRT Y-^THREE ENGRAVINGS, 




NewpYork: 
WILLIAMS BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

NASSAU-STREET. 



MDCCCXLVIU, 



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